Analysts Set The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Price Target at $21.71

Shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.71.

Several research firms recently commented on AES. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of AES from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of AES from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of AES from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st.

AES Price Performance

Shares of AES stock opened at $16.95 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $18.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.78. The stock has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a PE ratio of 23.53 and a beta of 1.08. AES has a 52-week low of $11.43 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.78.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.22 billion. AES had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 35.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that AES will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a $0.1725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 95.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in AES by 92.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in AES by 102.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in AES in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in AES in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.13% of the company’s stock.

AES Company Profile

The AES Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified power generation and utility company in the United States and internationally. The company owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries; owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market.